The cultural delights of Saigon

Trip Start Dec 28, 2005
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Trip End Sep 01, 2006


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Monday, August 14, 2006

Once again arrived shattered and disheveled from yet another long and not so comfortable night bus - but managed not to go straight to bed, although that's partly to do with our room not being ready... still impressive! Anyway we met up with Sean from Nha Trang and helped him devise his insurance story cos his camera was stolen - oh dear. Then went for a really rubbish massage in a dodgy place which tried to force us into tipping waaaay too much but we stood our ground - I'm becoming a grown-up! Bid our farewells to Sean and then decided it was time to do some intensive sight-seeing so employed a Tuk-tuk driver for the day, who completely ripped us off (maybe not so grown-up after all) - despite being conned into paying far too much, it was a good day. Wandered around the bizarre Reunification Palace (v interesting) and then took a deep breath and explored the War Remanants museum. Not sure what to say about the museum without it sounding cliche and a bit trivial - but basically can't believe what humans are capable of, many disturbing photographs and stories which illustrated the twisted nature of that war, was really sad and had to hold back the tears, just so sad 01 Cu Chi Tunnels
01 Cu Chi Tunnels
 . After that we carried on to see the Notre Dame Cathedral (not quite as good as in Paris but still very beautiful, the gorgeous Post office (?!) and a very random temple which looked like someone's house with huge incense sticks hanging from the ceiling.

Post Nha Trang we decided to be lame and treat ourselves (and our stomachs and purses) to a DVD player - rented it out from our hotel for cheap and watched some movies - was bliss.

Headed off to the Cu Chi Tunnels the next day. Had a very passionate and highly opinionated war veteran as a guide (unfortunately I couldn't understand his accent too well, so not sure exactly where his thoughts lie - but they seem to lie there very strongly!) It was a really fascinating place and the tunnels themselves were really cool. Watched an 'interesting' video about "heroic American killers" (not subjective at all??) and had a go at shooting M-16 rifles (my ears are still recovering!) Took a boat cruise back to the centre.

The Fine Arts Museum and a stroll around the centre to squeeze in a few more landmarks was the agenda for our final day in Saigon. Also ate Pho (noodle soup) at a cafe where Bill Clinton supped his - very nice soup indeed. Saw an evening view from the Rex Hotel after a terrifying moto ride (my driver nearly wiped out an entire family or two, beeped our way across a crazy crazy roundabout and shouted 'go' at everyone in front of us who dared to go at a reasonable place!!) and then back to our hotel for more films! Rock n'roll...
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